Department for Transport

Railways: North of England

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the possible changes to the Northern franchise, what consideration, if any, they have given to transferring Leeds to Carlisle services via the Settle and Carlisle line to the Transpennine franchise.

baroness vere of norbiton: We are continually talking to community stakeholders about how we can further improve the Leeds to Carlisle service. Some of the options being looked at include improving journey times and better connectivity to other parts of the north. There are no discussions underway about transferring the service to the TransPennine Express franchise.

Airlines: Insolvency

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their decision to provide state aid to Flybe, what assessment they have made of the case for (1) planning for a possible public take-over of essential regional and short-haul airlines in the event of a collapse of an operating company, on a similar basis to that with London North Eastern Railway on the East Coast main line or otherwise, and (2) improvements in the railway network between the regional centres, in particular on the north-east and south-west axis between Exeter, Bristol and Birmingham, in addition to HS2 between Birmingham and the north-east.

baroness vere of norbiton: There has been no state aid provided to Flybe. This Government is committed to levelling up all regions of the UK, and that is why we have announced a review of regional connectivity that will assess how we can maintain key air routes and ensure all nations and regions of the UK have the domestic transport connections local communities rely on – including regional services from local airports. This review, led by the Department for Transport, will consider all options to ensure we continue to have good regional connectivity. The Department for Transport is already working with Arriva Cross Country to bring much needed extra capacity between the South West and North East as suitable trains become available in the rolling stock market.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Hong Kong: Police Brutality

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1)the decision in December 2019 of the panel of international experts to stand aside from the Independent Police Complaints Council investigation into allegations of police brutality in response to the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong, and (2) the implications of that decisiononthe objectivity of the investigation.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We continue to call for a robust, credible and independent investigation into events in Hong Kong. We note the decision of the independent panel of international experts to step down from the Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) investigation. The IPCC’s report has not yet been published. However, as we have made clear repeatedly, any inquiry must be impartial, credible, and transparent. That is the only way to rebuild trust and help to resolve the current tensions.

Department of Health and Social Care

Mental Health Services: Finance

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of the revenue resources specified in the NHS Funding Bill that will be allocated to mental health services for each year of the settlement.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: This NHS Funding Bill enshrines in law the biggest cash boost in National Health Service history, ensuring the NHS will get an extra £33.9 billion a year by 2023/24. The Bill does not limit the amount of funding we can put in the NHS, but instead sets that the budget must be “at least” what we have committed to.The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that mental health will receive a growing share of the NHS budget, worth in real terms at least a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24.Tables showing how NHS funding and mental health funding will increase year-on-year to 2023/24 are attached, due to the size of the data.



HL497 tables formatted
(Word Document, 20.59 KB)

Department for Education

Ministry of Justice

Family Proceedings

lord beecham: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the report of the panel assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases.

lord keen of elie: On 21 May 2019 we announced a public call for evidence led by a panel of experts to gather evidence on how the family courts protect children and parents in cases of domestic abuse and other serious offences. The panel completed the call for evidence in September 2019, and published a Progress Update in October outlining the work completed and next steps. The panel has been meeting regularly to discuss the wealth of evidence collected from 1,200 individuals and organisations, and are in the process of finalising their report. It is right that they take the time to analyse this data and to consider their recommendations for how the family courts can be reformed to improve the experiences of victims of harm. A full report outlining their findings and recommended next steps will be published by Spring 2020.

Home Office

Midwives: Training

lord tebbit: Her Majesty's Government how many people were killed by individuals who had previously been convicted of murder or manslaughter, in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

lord jopling: Her Majesty's Government which higher education providers have declined to participate in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

baroness blackwood of north oxford: Since the changes to the bursary system in 2017 midwifery places are no longer directly commissioned. The Department makes funding available for clinical placements, with places filled via the normal university application process. The Government has committed to expand midwifery training places by 3,650 over a four year period with an increase of 650 in September 2019 and 1,000 in each of the subsequent years.Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) in the following table shows acceptances to midwifery courses increased by 425 in the academic year 2019-20. The table also shows the number of acceptances in each of the three preceding academic years.Academic year2016-172017-182018-192019-20Number of acceptances2,3952,6002,6803,105Source: UCAS end of cycle data, 2019

Criminal Records: EU Nationals

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 15 January (HL Deb, col 707), when the Association of Chief Police Officers Records Officefirst become aware of the problem with the Police National Computer.

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 15 January (HL Deb, col 707), when the Home Office was notified of the problems with the Police National Computer.

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 15 January (HL Deb, col 707), when partner agencies and governments in Europe were first notified of the problem with the Police National Computer.

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 15 January (HL Deb, col 707),who in theHome Office decided that the historical backlog of criminal record convictions should not be passed on.

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 15 January (HL Deb, col 707),how muchthey have spent on trying to fix the glitch on the Police National Computer; and how many people are working on the problem.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office is working to support ACRO to resolve the issue and find a technical fix which will be implemented as soon as possible.Last year the UK sent over 30,000 conviction notifications to EU Member States and received over 16,000 from the EU.This has led to many hundreds of criminals being brought to justice and ACRO are working urgently to resolve any outstanding alerts.

Drugs: Organised Crime

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report byHer Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services Both Sides Of The Coin: The Police And National Crime Agency’s Response To Vulnerable People In ‘County Lines’ Drug Offending, published in January, what plans, if any, they have to review the methods by which pay as you go mobile phones can be purchased.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government is committed to tackling drugs supply and reducing the viability of the county lines business model.We welcome the report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and are considering its recommendations and our response.

Treasury

National Insurance Contributions

baroness humphreys: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) part-time, and (2) low paid workers, will no longer be credited with a pensions contribution as a result of the proposed raising of the National Insurance threshold.

the earl of courtown: The Government is committed to delivering on its manifesto commitments and will set out further details in due course. Increasing the Primary Threshold and Lower Profits Limit only affects the point at which employees and the self-employed start paying Class 1 and Class 4 NICs respectively. These thresholds have no impact on State Pension eligibility.